{"data":{"id":"1326","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":1326,"topgoose_id":417,"tms_id":1326,"display_name":"Alma Thomas","sort_name":"Thomas Alma","display_date":"1891–1978","begin_date":"1891","end_date":"1978","biography":"\u003cp\u003eAfter devoting herself full time to painting in 1960, at the age of sixty-nine, Alma Thomas rose to prominence as a Color Field abstractionist. The first graduate of the fine arts program at Howard University in Washington, DC, in 1924, Thomas had spent thirty-five years as an art teacher in the city’s public schools. During her years as a teacher she was active in the Washington arts community and took classes at American University, where she first began to paint abstractions. With vibrant canvases such as \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/3043\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eMars Dust\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e Thomas forged a link to the thriving community of abstractionists known as the Washington Color School— which included the painters \u003ca href=\"/artists/799\"\u003eMorris Louis\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"/artists/955\"\u003eKenneth Noland\u003c/a\u003e, and \u003ca href=\"/artists/4108\"\u003eSam Gilliam\u003c/a\u003e. Like these artists, Thomas turned to acrylic paint and used her large-scale canvases to explore experimental techniques. Unlike them, however, Thomas rooted her images in nature, especially the abstract patterns created by the interaction of light and earth.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eMars Dust\u003c/em\u003e the lyrical, allover surface of dappled red brushstrokes conjures the massive dust storms created by the iron- rich soil of Mars, which are fueled by the heat of the sun and often envelop the planet for weeks or months. These atmospheric phenomena were first observed at close range during NASA’s 1971–72 space mission, events that Thomas avidly followed. In \u003cem\u003eMars Dust\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003ethe luminous cobalt underlayer\nadds to the shimmering effect of the red\nstrokes, which the artist created by using an\nelastic band as her guide. The year she\npainted this image, Thomas became the first\nAfrican American woman to be accorded a\nsolo exhibition at the Whitney Museum.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":true,"artport":false,"biennial":false,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500041104","wikidata_id":"Q4733608","created_at":"2017-08-30T15:39:48.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-03-26T07:04:13.748-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/1326/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/1326/exhibitions"}}}}